Incoming freshmen placed in alternative housing

Incoming Syracuse University freshmen may be in for a surprise when they receive their housing assignments next week.

SU will welcome one of its largest freshman classes in recent years for the fall semester, with 3,524 students having accepted SU's offer of admission as of July 20, according to the SU News Services. The figure is 490 students greater than the university's enrollment target of 3,035, said David C. Smith, vice president of enrollment management.

The unexpectedly large freshman class has prompted SU to make several adjustments to its residential facilities to accommodate all the new students. As a result, many incoming freshmen may find themselves put up in rooms they had not anticipated living in.

Thirty first-year students will live in the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel and Conference Center, according to the SU News Services. In addition, 114 first-year students will live in Skyhall III on South Campus, 33 in the former Alpha Gamma Delta house, an all-female fraternity, at 709 Comstock Ave. and 26 in the terrace level of Brockway Hall, which is currently being renovated at the cost of $500,000.

Residence halls will also increase their capacities by accommodating more students in some rooms than they did last year. Among other changes, 43 first-year students will be placed in triples in rooms that are normally used as open doubles. Residence halls have also converted study rooms and lounges into bedrooms that will house 136 new students.

Dave Kohr, director of housing, meal plans and ID card services, said SU has faced some difficulty in coping with the large freshman class.

"It's a good problem we have," he said. "It indicates that Syracuse University is a pretty popular institution. But when you don't have enough time to prepare, it presents a group of challenges and obstacles."

The university has made several assignments for the new students that had not been planned when prospective students and their parents visited the university earlier this year.

Some incoming freshmen have voiced their apprehension at being placed in some of these living arrangements.

Jahlil Collins, an undeclared human services and health professions major, said he would like to live in the Sheraton. However, he would be very upset if the university placed him in a converted triple, he said.

"I would be very, very shocked and surprised," he said. "I would probably want to take my money back and transfer to another school. You pay $41,000 to come to this school and you get put in a room that's smaller than a prison cell?"

Yexary Rodriguez, a biology major, complained that a triple does not provide enough privacy for each resident.

"I would be really pissed," she said. "Having one roommate is bad enough, but having a second one?"

Kohr said that SU had considered many other options and that the current arrangements are the best option available to new students.

"We could find places for people to live in Liverpool or Nob Hill, but we believe it is important for people to live close to the university," he said. "If you were an incoming freshman and you lived three miles away from campus, you'd never feel connected to the university."

Kohr also assured that new students would enjoy the same amenities and services that all students living on campus currently have access to.

The Department of Public Safety will place Residential Security Aides in the Sheraton Hotel on the floor where students will be living, as well as at the former AGD house and Brockway Hall, Kohr said. RSAs will check the identification of everyone entering the facilities, like they at all residence halls.

Additional Resident Assistants have also been hired for those facilities, Kohr said. These RAs had passed the preparation course last semester but they were not offered positions because there were not enough places available then.

The 15 rooms in the hotel that will be used by SU students will also be furnished with two beds, desks and dressers, and an additional data port will be installed for Internet access, Kohr said. Students will pay the same rate as the other open doubles with private bathrooms on campus, he said. The floor will house the Quiet Lifestyle Learning Community, to better meet the needs of the hotel, he said.

But SU faced some difficulty procuring rooms in the hotel for students.

"It was very difficult because it was all booked," Kohr said. "In fact, it was overbooked some times of the year, like Homecoming and Parents' Weekend. It meant shifting some folks to other hotels in Syracuse."

Kohr said triple rooms will present a cramped living environment for students but these students will be receiving a discount on their room and board fee.

The university chose the largest open doubles on campus to convert into triple rooms, such as the ones in Marion and Day halls, he said. Students will also be provided with lofted beds, under which they can place their desks and chairs to free up more space.

Eileen Simmons, associate director for North and South Campus housing, believes that triple rooms will provide enough space for their residents.

"We've not just randomly said, 'These rooms would be triples,'" she said. "The housing crew would set up the triple with furniture a certain way and we would say, 'Uh-uh.' We've gone out to see all these things and if something wasn't right, we didn't do it."

Kohr said that students placed in a particular housing arrangement in the fall semester could still move to another facility in the spring semester. Hundreds of housing vacancies typically open up in the spring semester due to students studying abroad, transferring to other schools or graduating early, Kohr said.

Nevertheless, his office sees the need to make long-term plans to accommodate these students in future, primarily by constructing more residential facilities.

"Build, build and build," Kohr said. "We need it and we're discussing it."

Simmons agreed that the incoming freshman class poses permanent problems for the university.

"The thing people lose sight of is that this large class is going to stay with us next year and the next, and we don't know the projections for the next incoming class," Simmons said. "I think we have to review our policies. ... There's a lot to discuss."